396.1 BE/2–154: Telegram
No. 401
The United States
Delegation at the Berlin Conference to the Department of State1
niact
Secto 62. Department for OSD. Following receipt Tosec 592 tripartite group on Austria discussed troop withdrawal February 1. French and British position unchanged but British now have support their Chiefs of Staff. US representative explained in some detail reasons for US preference for complete withdrawal and conditions under which US would agree withdrawal particular necessity that Austria raise adequate security forces. British and French will consider and steering group will discuss problem February 3.
Only discussion of consequence was query by French concerning status control agreement under complete withdrawal. British reported their legal experts inclined believe control agreement lapses and French agreed. Questions we must be prepared answer Wednesday are:
- 1.
- Would AC agreement stand?
- 2.
- Would we assume AC agreement stands or insist upon positive Soviet reaffirmation?
- 3.
- What is relation of any German assets question to maintenance control agreement after complete withdrawal?
- 4.
- Would we gain by making agreement on Soviet proposal withdrawal conditional on abolition control agreement?
Re point 4 above, British and French not convinced that with withdrawal Soviet troops from Austria control agreement would continue provide any significant protection against Soviets or that threat division Austria would remain.
Views including legal aspects urgently requested.
- Repeated to Paris, London, Moscow, and Vienna.↩
- See footnote 4, Document 378.↩